When the first harvest wrapped up (where I picked 636 blooms over 35 days), I was bloody wrapped with the results. But as any grower knows, a corm’s first-year flowers mostly come from the energy stored up in the corm from the previous grower's soil. While getting that many blooms was a great start, it didn't give me total proof that my new raised beds and soil mix were doing the job.
If you want to check out the flower numbers from the first harvest, you can read the earlier recap here: 👉 Life Down Wattle Lane: Saffron Trial Recap
Digging Up a Few Corms to Check Progress
Now that the leaves are starting to dry off and die back for summer (resting up until they come back to life next autumn), I decided to dig up a small sample of 5 corms to check their health and see if they'd split.
Because top-grade corms are pretty pricey, I started the trial with cheaper, second-grade stock—which just means they were smaller in size and weight. The real test was seeing whether my soil and drainage could help these smaller corms grow bigger while keeping rot away through an unusually wet winter.
Here is what I found when I dug them up:
Clean and Healthy: The corms came up dry, firm, and completely free of any black spots, soft patches, or rot.
Noticeably Bigger: Visually, every single corm was plumper and larger than the day I planted them. (Though I definitely should have weighed them before planting and again now!)
Good Splits: Out of the 5 corms I dug up, 3 of them had split into healthy new daughter corms!
The Numbers 📊
Turning 5 corms into 8 works out to a 60% split rate in the very first year.
Even if I take a conservative guess and assume the rest of the patch settles around a 40% or 50% split rate, getting that out of second-grade corms in Year 1 is still a solid result. It tells me two main things:
The Setup Works: My 20cm raised beds and soil mix provided good drainage to stop winter rot, while giving the corms enough feed to gain size.
More Flowers Next Season: These new, bigger corms will keep growing and splitting in Year 2, which means even more flowers next autumn.
Taking it one step further…
Out of the 1,058 corms I originally planted, 920 popped up with healthy green foliage, so I know at least 920 made it through.
Now looking at that 60% split rate: if I drop that down to a conservative 50% split across the whole bed, the math looks pretty sharp:
920 original corms + 460 new splits = roughly 1,380 corms resting underground right now!
Since I paid roughly $1.63 per corm for the original 1,000, those 380 new corms represent an instant $619 gain in crop value sitting right there in the dirt!
A Quick Word on "Splits": Technically, saffron corms don't actually "split" in half like a bulb or a clump of perennials. The original mother corm you plant acts like an underground battery for the season—she pours all her energy into sending up those flowers and green leaf shoots. As the leaves do their job through autumn and winter, brand-new "daughter corms" swell up right at the base of those shoots, while the old mother corm shrivels away beneath them. So when you dig up a cluster and see two or three plump corms attached to those green leaves, you're looking at the fresh new generation sitting on top of the old root base. I'll keep calling them "splits" because it's easy, but it's bloody interesting seeing how the whole family tree works under the dirt!
What’s Next? Summer Bed Expansion! ☀️
All up, the trial was a success, and I reckon I've got a winner on my hands.
The next job is finding the money this summer to build more raised beds, buy some more corms, and get the soil sorted for planting next autumn.
To start with, I’ll expand using more raised beds around the house and barn. Once I get to years 3 or 4 when these corms need digging up, dividing, and moving out into the paddock… I’ve got one spot that sits high enough to avoid winter rot, though I'll need to re-fence it to keep the sheep out! It will be a lot of physical work turning paddock into a field of saffron, but well worth it.
The saffron project at Down Wattle Lane is well and truly underway.
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